1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cleaning magnetic tape transport devices.
Cleaning cassettes have been provided for some time for use in cleaning the capstan wheels and record/reproduce heads of tape transport devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A problem in cleaning some tape transports, especially data tape transports, is caused by the fact that the capstan wheel is used to drive the mechanism used to clean the record/reproduce head. This makes it difficult to provide a single cassette which will clean both the capstan wheel and the record/reproduce head.
Convertible cleaning cassettes have been provided in order to solve the foregoing problems. A single cassette with two inserts is provided. One insert contains a gear which engages with one or more gears within the cassette and cause the capstan wheel to drive a wiper arm to wipe a cleaning element over the recording/reproducing head and clean it. When it is desired to clean the capstan wheel, the first insert is removed and replaced with the second insert, which has a cleaning element which cleans the capstan wheel.
Thus, a single cassette is provided, but two separate inserts are required. The inserts are relatively difficult and cumbersome to use. Furthermore, the molds and the labor used to make the inserts can be relatively expensive because of the intricacy of the components.
Other problems with prior tape cleaning cassettes lie in the cleaning elements themselves. In kits in which convertible cleaning cassettes are provided, cleaning elements of two different shapes are used; one for cleaning the heads, and the other for cleaning the capstan wheel. This again complicates the use of the cleaning cassette because the operator must know, or figure out, which cleaning element is used in which device. Furthermore, the cleaning elements either tend to pull out of their holders too readily, thus causing malfunction of the cleaning device, or they require special tools, such as a special pair of tweezers, to remove the soiled cleaning elements and replace them with new ones.